To Any Doctors - Prostatitis

(or anyone who’s ever been diagnosed with this)

Question for the doctors. I was going along in life, dieting, losing weight, working out, having a great time. And then it hit me: I have been diagnosed with prostatitis. For a month now, I have had agonizing pains, feeling like my genitals are going to explode, day and night, week after week. What’s even worse, is they told me that I cannot have caffeine and spicy foods, amongst other things.

So my problem is two-fold…first, I am in a lot of pain and have a hard time focusing on anything, so workouts have been missed. Also, without having green tea, diet soda, I am limited on the things that have helped me eat clean, so I’ve had a few too many cheat meals. I am all out of whack.

So here’s where I am…I’ve been on antibotics for almost three weeks with no improvement. I’m starting to take ibuprofen to help (hopefully) with the inflammation, and I take tylonol PM to help sleep at night, as that can be tough sometimes. The doctor wants me to take six weeks before he’ll even see me again. So since it’s been a month already and it seems it will be at least one more month, I’m in this for the long haul.

My question is two-fold: First, should I even try to work out, or will the strain on my body slow down the recovery? And second, is there anything I can take without caffeine to help cravings? I’m taking 400mg a day of 5-HTP, which sometimes helps, but not being able to have HOT-ROX, green tea, etc. is leaving quite a void in me, which the pain fuels.

Any eductated and/or professional responses would be greatly appreciated!

[quote]Shiggy wrote:
(or anyone who’s ever been diagnosed with this)

Question for the doctors. I was going along in life, dieting, losing weight, working out, having a great time. And then it hit me: I have been diagnosed with prostatitis. For a month now, I have had agonizing pains, feeling like my genitals are going to explode, day and night, week after week. What’s even worse, is they told me that I cannot have caffeine and spicy foods, amongst other things.

So my problem is two-fold…first, I am in a lot of pain and have a hard time focusing on anything, so workouts have been missed. Also, without having green tea, diet soda, I am limited on the things that have helped me eat clean, so I’ve had a few too many cheat meals. I am all out of whack.

So here’s where I am…I’ve been on antibotics for almost three weeks with no improvement. I’m starting to take ibuprofen to help (hopefully) with the inflammation, and I take tylonol PM to help sleep at night, as that can be tough sometimes. The doctor wants me to take six weeks before he’ll even see me again. So since it’s been a month already and it seems it will be at least one more month, I’m in this for the long haul.

My question is two-fold: First, should I even try to work out, or will the strain on my body slow down the recovery? And second, is there anything I can take without caffeine to help cravings? I’m taking 400mg a day of 5-HTP, which sometimes helps, but not being able to have HOT-ROX, green tea, etc. is leaving quite a void in me, which the pain fuels.

Any eductated and/or professional responses would be greatly appreciated![/quote]

As per your first question, its been show that exercise in general is beneficial for various health aspects (like increased immune system function) however, very strenous exercise on a continuous basis can divert ‘‘energy’’ from immune fonction toward anabolism/system repair. Therefore, I imagine that going for light exercise would be your best option .

For you second question, you might try Spike (its caffeine content is basically negligible). The reason you can’t take caffeine/theophylline is simply that most of the antibiotics used to treat bacterial prostatitis increase caffeine toxicity (either from the effect side or actual cellular damage or both). Considering that most people don’t listen to their doctors, people who have take these kinds of medication would have fallen left and right. Its probably a case of better safe than sorry.

Hang in there, the treatment for acute and chronic bacterial prostatitis ranges from 4 to 6 weeks (acute) to 4 to 12 weeks (chronic) depending on the antibiotics used.

Yep, life sure does suck.

Good Luck,
AlexH

Strange, I read cravings as cravings for energy, (green tea, hot-rox, caffeine), when you’re talking of cravings for food.

For diet sodas without caffeine, either the Coke/Pepsi without caffeine or any non-brown colored sodas (they are all devoid of caffeine, gotta enjoy them crazy laws)

When I really need something sweet to eat with little calories, I jam a large amount of frozen blueberries, straberries and raspberries in a iced vanilla protein shake filled with low-cal sweetners. It actually tastes better than most milkshakes, maybe its just me not feeling my fat cell enlarging…

You could get your hands on some Grow! bars which are rather pretty good and with their generous protein content, there wouldn’t be any problem in enjoying them once in a while.

AlexH.

[quote]Shiggy wrote:
(or anyone who’s ever been diagnosed with this)

Question for the doctors. I was going along in life, dieting, losing weight, working out, having a great time. And then it hit me: I have been diagnosed with prostatitis. For a month now, I have had agonizing pains, feeling like my genitals are going to explode, day and night, week after week. What’s even worse, is they told me that I cannot have caffeine and spicy foods, amongst other things.

So my problem is two-fold…first, I am in a lot of pain and have a hard time focusing on anything, so workouts have been missed. Also, without having green tea, diet soda, I am limited on the things that have helped me eat clean, so I’ve had a few too many cheat meals. I am all out of whack.

So here’s where I am…I’ve been on antibotics for almost three weeks with no improvement. I’m starting to take ibuprofen to help (hopefully) with the inflammation, and I take tylonol PM to help sleep at night, as that can be tough sometimes. The doctor wants me to take six weeks before he’ll even see me again. So since it’s been a month already and it seems it will be at least one more month, I’m in this for the long haul.

My question is two-fold: First, should I even try to work out, or will the strain on my body slow down the recovery? And second, is there anything I can take without caffeine to help cravings? I’m taking 400mg a day of 5-HTP, which sometimes helps, but not being able to have HOT-ROX, green tea, etc. is leaving quite a void in me, which the pain fuels.

Any eductated and/or professional responses would be greatly appreciated![/quote]

I suffered from prostatis for several years. I went to more than a dozen doctors and urologists. Some diagnosed that I had prostaitis, others said there was nothing wrong with me. It caused me a great deal of pain, frustration and money. Over the course of my ordeal i tried many antibiotics and other remedies as well. I can tell you that after much trial and error, and finally getting a friendly urologist who was willing to try different things, I came upon the combination of Levaquin and Clindamyacin. It took several weeks of each (don’t need any advice about the effects of antibiotics) and I finally made some progress toward recovery. I finally felt like I had a life again. There are many websites around that deal with this problem and many individuals share their stories and tell what has worked for them. Most cases are not as bad or complicated as what I had. But I would treat it as aggressively as possible to nip the problem in the bud before it becomes a recurring problem. One more thing, I make a practice of peeing after every time I have sex (and I’m monogamous) just to flush out the system and the bacteria.

Here my friend- don’t limit to allopathic:

Herbal and complementary medicine in chronic prostatitis

Daniel A. Shoskes A1 and Kannan Manickam A1

A1 Department of Urology Cleveland Clinic Florida Section of Renal Transplantation 2950 Cleveland Clinic Boulevard Weston FL 33331 USA

Abstract:

Chronic prostatitis is a very common and poorly understood condition with significant impact on quality of life. The etiology of prostatitis can be multifactorial and can present with a variety of symptoms. Given the lack of proven efficacy of conventional therapies such as antibiotics, many patients have turned to phytotherapy and other alternative treatments. This review will cover the alternative therapies commonly used in prostatitis with an emphasis on those with published data. These treatments include phytotherapy (quercetin, bee pollen) and physical therapy. Complementary therapies have shown the potential to help men with prostatitis, particularly when allopathic therapies have failed.

Note: Quercetin (Vitamin C’s cousin) seems to help hugely.

Lots to read here:

Everyone,

Thanks for your responses. This is something that has really scared me and has been difficult to deal with. It’s now been a month with no improvement, and as many of you have indicated, it seems very misunderstood and incredibly difficult to find the exact remedy that will work. I will take all of your information into consideration as I try to overcome this.

Thank you.

[quote]CoachMike wrote:
Here my friend- don’t limit to allopathic:

Herbal and complementary medicine in chronic prostatitis

Daniel A. Shoskes A1 and Kannan Manickam A1

A1 Department of Urology Cleveland Clinic Florida Section of Renal Transplantation 2950 Cleveland Clinic Boulevard Weston FL 33331 USA

Abstract:

Chronic prostatitis is a very common and poorly understood condition with significant impact on quality of life. The etiology of prostatitis can be multifactorial and can present with a variety of symptoms. Given the lack of proven efficacy of conventional therapies such as antibiotics, many patients have turned to phytotherapy and other alternative treatments. This review will cover the alternative therapies commonly used in prostatitis with an emphasis on those with published data. These treatments include phytotherapy (quercetin, bee pollen) and physical therapy. Complementary therapies have shown the potential to help men with prostatitis, particularly when allopathic therapies have failed.

Note: Quercetin (Vitamin C’s cousin) seems to help hugely.

Lots to read here:

[/quote]

Quercetin is an antiinflammitory/antitumor flavonoid, hence the reason why it helps bring an inflammation problem down. Another good thing to take is a non-dairy source of Acidophilus and a good B-complex and a good Zinc supp. around 80mg a day, but do not exceed 100mg. The best B-complex will probably be a "Stress"B-complex. Other good things would include: Saw Palmetto, Pumpkin Seed Oil, and a Raw Glandular. PM me if ya need more info, I got tons of it

haramdar

[quote]Haramdar wrote:
CoachMike wrote:
Here my friend- don’t limit to allopathic:

Herbal and complementary medicine in chronic prostatitis

Daniel A. Shoskes A1 and Kannan Manickam A1

A1 Department of Urology Cleveland Clinic Florida Section of Renal Transplantation 2950 Cleveland Clinic Boulevard Weston FL 33331 USA

Abstract:

Chronic prostatitis is a very common and poorly understood condition with significant impact on quality of life. The etiology of prostatitis can be multifactorial and can present with a variety of symptoms. Given the lack of proven efficacy of conventional therapies such as antibiotics, many patients have turned to phytotherapy and other alternative treatments. This review will cover the alternative therapies commonly used in prostatitis with an emphasis on those with published data. These treatments include phytotherapy (quercetin, bee pollen) and physical therapy. Complementary therapies have shown the potential to help men with prostatitis, particularly when allopathic therapies have failed.

Note: Quercetin (Vitamin C’s cousin) seems to help hugely.

Lots to read here:

Quercetin is an antiinflammitory/antitumor flavonoid, hence the reason why it helps bring an inflammation problem down. Another good thing to take is a non-dairy source of Acidophilus and a good B-complex and a good Zinc supp. around 80mg a day, but do not exceed 100mg. The best B-complex will probably be a "Stress"B-complex. Other good things would include: Saw Palmetto, Pumpkin Seed Oil, and a Raw Glandular. PM me if ya need more info, I got tons of it

haramdar
[/quote]

Sounds a lot like the Prosta-Q product I saw on that site. I am thinking of trying that. All my tests have come up negative for an infection, but the doctors are still saying that’s what it is. They are just guessing and throwing pills at me, hoping it goes away. This is scary reading that site…it seems like some people never got over this.

[quote]Dandalex wrote:
Shiggy wrote:
(or anyone who’s ever been diagnosed with this)

Question for the doctors. I was going along in life, dieting, losing weight, working out, having a great time. And then it hit me: I have been diagnosed with prostatitis. For a month now, I have had agonizing pains, feeling like my genitals are going to explode, day and night, week after week. What’s even worse, is they told me that I cannot have caffeine and spicy foods, amongst other things.

So my problem is two-fold…first, I am in a lot of pain and have a hard time focusing on anything, so workouts have been missed. Also, without having green tea, diet soda, I am limited on the things that have helped me eat clean, so I’ve had a few too many cheat meals. I am all out of whack.

So here’s where I am…I’ve been on antibotics for almost three weeks with no improvement. I’m starting to take ibuprofen to help (hopefully) with the inflammation, and I take tylonol PM to help sleep at night, as that can be tough sometimes. The doctor wants me to take six weeks before he’ll even see me again. So since it’s been a month already and it seems it will be at least one more month, I’m in this for the long haul.

My question is two-fold: First, should I even try to work out, or will the strain on my body slow down the recovery? And second, is there anything I can take without caffeine to help cravings? I’m taking 400mg a day of 5-HTP, which sometimes helps, but not being able to have HOT-ROX, green tea, etc. is leaving quite a void in me, which the pain fuels.

Any eductated and/or professional responses would be greatly appreciated!

As per your first question, its been show that exercise in general is beneficial for various health aspects (like increased immune system function) however, very strenous exercise on a continuous basis can divert ‘‘energy’’ from immune fonction toward anabolism/system repair. Therefore, I imagine that going for light exercise would be your best option .

For you second question, you might try Spike (its caffeine content is basically negligible). The reason you can’t take caffeine/theophylline is simply that most of the antibiotics used to treat bacterial prostatitis increase caffeine toxicity (either from the effect side or actual cellular damage or both). Considering that most people don’t listen to their doctors, people who have take these kinds of medication would have fallen left and right. Its probably a case of better safe than sorry.

Hang in there, the treatment for acute and chronic bacterial prostatitis ranges from 4 to 6 weeks (acute) to 4 to 12 weeks (chronic) depending on the antibiotics used.

Yep, life sure does suck.

Good Luck,
AlexH[/quote]

Can you elaborate on your comment on Spike? I have proven to be one of the people who have a very adverse reaction to caffeine while suffering from this. I’m a bit nervous of trying something like that when I had a diet soda the other day and was in pain for three days after.

Well, its been mentionned that Spike contains minimal amounts of caffeine.

So it probably has far less caffeine than any of the other supplements mentionned and could potentially help with lack of energy.

But like I said, I saw the supps that you mentionned above and focused on the energy boosting properties they have as opposed to their anorectic effects. So I have no idea how it would help on cravings, I however feel less tired and foggy when I end up not eating for a large part of the day then when I’m not on it, so it helps in that respect.

As for having a negative culture, only 5 to 10% of people who have prostatitis have positive cultures. Therefore, guessing and being highly clinically suspicious are two different things. (BTW, that doesn’t not imply that the remainder have non-bacterial prostatitis)

Excerpt from emedicine.com

Of all men evaluated for prostatitis, only 5-10% actually have a true bacteriologic condition as evidenced by a positive urine culture. However, approximately 50% of these men actually receive antibiotics for treatment of the prostatitis symptom complex. Evidence suggests that despite negative culture findings, some patients with nonbacterial prostatitis in the traditional sense may have a bacterial infection. Recent studies found bacterial ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in the prostatic fluid of patients with prostatitis symptoms. In addition, some fastidious organisms that do not grow in standard culture media may be the cause of the symptom complex. Some of these organisms are Chlamydia trachomatous, Ureaplasma urealyticum, and Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Despite having nonbacterial prostatitis by the classic definition, these patients improve with an appropriate course of antibiotics.

Tests are great, but they don’t replace good diagnostics skills. Here’s to being holistic!

AlexH